Douglas Todd: Human ‘dignity’ is the focus of much social debate

Seeking common ground: The concept has come to the fore as one that could resonate across societies and religions

A sex worker in Vancouver. People both for and against the sex trade use the concept of dignity in their argunments.

Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Can a prostitute have dignity? That question is in the air after the federal government this month imposed a law restricting sex work.

Does extremely low pay rob working people of dignity? Those who believe it does persuaded Seattle politicians this month to hike its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

And how could both supporters and opponents of doctor-assisted suicide use “dignity” to justify their positions as Quebec legalized this form of euthanasia?

In an increasingly secular world, dignity is the hefty concept coming to the fore as people search to find a shared way to make rules and laws based on the ultimate worth of a human being.

The ideal of dignity also comes up in debates over cloning, ethno-cultural segregation, homelessness and war. It was even the justification used when European courts tried to ban a dwarf-tossing contest.

Religions have other ways to determine supreme value than dignity. Broadly speaking, Christianity emphasizes love and redemption through Christ; Islam emphasizes submission to the will of God, while Buddhism emphasizes escaping the cycle of reincarnation through enlightenment.

But, in a pluralistic world in which inhabitants do not agree on religion (to put it mildly), more than a few people since the Second World War, including religious leaders, have proposed that one value with the potential to bring everyone together is dignity.

Dignity is basically the idea that every human has the right to be valued and treated equally.

Or, as singer Aretha Franklin put it in her famous R & B song, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T … All I’m askin’ / is for a little respect.”

After the horrors of the Second World War, the United Nations in 1948 created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads: “All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Dignity is also key to Canada’s multiculturalism laws. The legislation affirms “the value and dignity of all Canadian citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic origins, their language or their religious affiliation.”

Three books have come out in recent years on dignity.

At a minimum, the writers make clear that dignity includes the right to not be humiliated, degraded or dehumanized. That implies no slavery, no rape and no torture. That said, we haven’t completely agreed on a definition. For instance, dignity doesn’t mean treating everyone exactly the same.

Shockingly, upholding human dignity doesn’t even necessarily mean avoiding war. As Harvard political philosopher Michael Rosen argues in Dignity: Its History and Meaning (Harvard University Press), there is an ethical argument for fighting enemies, while not humiliating them.

In George Kateb’s book, Human Dignity (Belknap Press), the Princeton professor makes a non-religious case for the centrality of dignity. But he laments that no society has a perfect record on it. And many nations — rife with corruption, exploitation and the treatment of some as “sub-humans” — have barely started upholding it.

Before taking a closer look at how dignity plays out in regards to prostitution, minimum wages and dying, it’s worth listening to some practical advice.

In Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict (Yale University Press), psychologist Donna Hicks describes how she brought the concept of dignity to conflict resolution in South Africa, Cambodia and Israel.

People often feel they’re losing their dignity, Hicks says, in politics, families, the workplace, ethno-cultural populations and, I would add, on social media. But she says the fear that fuels threats to dignity can be overcome by honouring people.

Naming “10 essential elements of dignity,” Hicks encourages treating others as “neither inferior nor superior,” making them feel “safe from being humiliated,” and giving them “the benefit of the doubt.”

Hicks’ “10 temptations to violate dignity” are less obvious and have more of an edge. I appreciate, for instance, Hicks advising people to “not take the bait” when the bad behaviour of others makes us want to get even. This is relevant to journalism, in dealing with people tossing verbal grenades on the Internet.

In the name of protecting the dignity of all, Hicks also advises people against “assuming you are the innocent victim in a troubled relationship (or debate). Open yourself to the idea that you might be contributing to the problem.”

In addition, Hicks cautions against a common vice: Blaming and shaming others to deflect your own guilt.

“Control the urge to defend yourself by making others look bad.”

Such a mature approach to conflict resolution would be helpful in the often-bitter war of words about euthanasia.

People campaigning for assisted suicide for the terminally ill talk about “death with dignity.” They want humans to exercise some autonomy over their pain-filled, low-quality existence. The language of dignity was used by Quebec politicians this month when they overwhelmingly legalized assisted suicide.

In contrast, the Catholic leaders who opposed Quebec’s laws believe humans are “stewards” of the life God gave them and do not have the right to end their own existence. Catholic clergy, supporting compassionate palliative care, link “dignity” to the capacity to endure suffering without loss of self-control.

Most discussions about the true nature of dignity are less conflicted, however, as in the campaign for fair wages.

The principle that led to Seattle city council this month raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour is “the dignity of labour,” a moral value that happens to be strongly supported by recent Catholic popes, especially Pope Francis.

The moral arguments behind Seattle setting its minimum wage almost as high as those in Australia and some northern European countries (McDonald’s workers in Denmark receive $21 US an hour) is based on the principle that it is humiliating to have to work full time but still to fall economically behind.

What about prostitution?

One side of the sex work battle condemns prostitution as a human rights abuse and an attack on the dignity of human beings, while the other states sex work is a legitimate occupation, in which a person exchanges sexual acts for money.

Canada’s Conservative government, which last week proposed legislation making it illegal to purchase or advertise sexual services, maintains its new law will protect the dignity of sex workers.

But what if some sex workers don’t believe they’re giving up their dignity? What do Ottawa’s lawmakers think about women and men who believe sex work can be superior to some demeaning minimum-wage jobs?

Rosen persuasively compares the debate surrounding the dignity of prostitutes to that of a French dwarf who a few years ago became the helmet-wearing missile in a contest to see who could throw him the farthest onto a mattress.

Even though the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, the Little People of America organization and a Canadian politician protested against such contests, saying they diminish the dignity of all dwarfs — the French dwarf persisted. And dwarf-throwing contests are still permitted.

As with prostitutes, or even with noisy youngsters perceived to be acting rudely or irreverently, Rosen maintains society has to legally allow other people to act undignified, as long as it doesn’t directly infringe others’ rights.

All this goes to suggest that dignity is not an absolute concept solving every ethical issue. But, in a secular world, it remains one of the best principles for weighing the value of each human.

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